Thursday's Early morning report

[RampageFan]

Well Thursday’s here and we are getting closer to the weekend! The weather here in Ohio has been great the past few days. It’s been nice waking up to a sunny 75 degrees!

Last fall my wife and I built a deck out back. It was the first time I’ve ever designed and built something. I can’t wait to spend time out there this summer.
I didn’t get a chance to respond yesterday because it was way too nice outside!

Lunch: For lunch today is back to fat free bologna, with fat free cheese and light bread, a few pretzels and an orange. It’s boring but it’s working for me.

Non G&L: Like I mentioned yesterday I have been changing my style and tone. For the past few years I’ve played through a Pod xt. I really like it, but I wanted to go analog. So I have built a pedal board. I did a lot of research and found I really like MXR pedals. I watched their demo videos and it didn’t hurt that they often use an Asat and a Legacy in the demos! I now use the Custom Badass ’78 Distortion, a Phase 90, analog chorus and a flanger. I love using the phase 90. It’s added a lot to my sound. An interesting thing that I’ve found is the ’78 distortion and my white Rampage really go well together. The white one is all original with the Schaler pickup. That pedal brings a lot out of that particular guitar. But it doesn’t sound nearly as good with my Yellow Rampage with the EMG. Anyone have a similar experience when a pedal or an amp works well with a particular guitar?

G&L topic of the Day: I am really interested in the history of G&L. I enjoy reading about Leo, George and Dale Hyatt. Being the big Rampage fan that I am, I think it’s a great story about how it came about. From what I understand, it was Dale’s idea to try to get younger players interested in G&L. The Rampage was based on the early San Dimas Charvels. Same maple bodies, maple necks, 25” radius, oiled necks that feel like untreated wood, and the whammy bar. In my opinion, the thing that sets the Rampage above the Charvels is the neck. Nothing beats the feel of a G&L neck. I also enjoy seeing the old pictures from G&L’s early days like the one Craig recently posted. What about you? Are you interested in the history of G&L? Or is it just a cool guitar you enjoy playing?

Dave

[louis cyfer]

i had a few mxr pedals, actually still have them, but don't use them anymore. i used the classic overdrive thew classic distortion, the dynacomp and the carbon copy. good pedals. but i now user a 7 sisters grace for compression, jetter, hao and timmy pedals for od, and tc flashback for delay. certainly a big step forward tone wise, but for the price those mxr's are hard to beat. i only paid around 240 for the 4 i used, and 860 for what i replaced it with.

[Sprinter 92]

Non G&L: Anyone have a similar experience when a pedal or an amp works well with a particular guitar?

I recently purchased a MXR, M-66 Classic Overdrive pedal. I've found it works very well with all of my guitars through a '71 Fender, Princeton Reverb with a Bogner 1 x 12" cabinet under it. It sounds the best with my '85 G&L, Invader which is all stock. I like the pedal so well that I've sold my TS-9, Green Screamer & Buckshot pedals!

G&L topic of the Day: What about you? Are you interested in the history of G&L? Or is it just a cool guitar you enjoy playing?

I'm very interested in early Fender and G&L history. They're also just a cool guitar I enjoy playing.

Sprinter 92

[asphalt-abate]

Fat free bologne. I can't imagine what that would taste like. It looks like your diet is centered on health. If so, good for you for sticking to it. I have some diet restrictions and sticking to them can be tough.

Interesting comment about pedals. I have friend who has several old MXR distirtion pedals and he claims that they sound different, even though they are the same model. He swears that certain ones sound better with certain amps. He has three amps and uses a different mxr distortion for each amp. He's single and has time on his hands so I'm sure he has had time to try all the different combinations. My keeper pedals are my Fulltone OCD, great for lead boost. Set the gain low and the volume high and its not too rowdy. It even sounded good through my old Musicman amp, which is a hard thing for an over drive to accomplish. My TS-808 reissue. NIce mellow gain for pop style rock, laid back blues, even gritty country. My Ibanez AD-9 Analog delay. A lot of people don't like them. I love mine. It has kind of a gutteral, throaty throw back. My BBE Opto Stomp. Very mellow natural sounding compression. Not like a Dyna Comp. It really doesn''t squash the front end but the sustain and clarity on the back end is very nice. If you like playing clean, especially if you finger pick or play cords a single note at a time, I recommend you give this pedal a try. It truely is one of those compressors that you don't know what its doing until you turn it off. I also like my Sugar Baby Tremelo. My friend with the mxr pedals has one of those big ugly purple Dunlop tremelo pedals and I think it sounds nasty (in a bad way). I have many other pedals but the ones I listed I'll probably pass on to my kids someday.

[darwinohm]

Dave, I do not have much experience with pedals. I have some that I have never used. One is a Digitech Harmony Man. I also have a Vox Tonelab which I use for recording sometimes. In the end Ii am really a lightweight on pedal experience.

I have always found George and Leo history interesting. I find guitar builder history in general very fascinating, especially the electrics. I did own a recent Brian May and for the money is was a decent guitar. His story is very interesting to me. I have been doing a fair amount of research on custom builders recently and find that interesting. How many different ways can you build a Tele style?-- Darwin

[sickbutnottired]

It feels like spring here in MT, as well. I am going to try and get a little spring skiing in, but am really looking forward to summer, as well.

I wish I could have played a little more this week. You had some great questions.

I think there is always at least one great sound between a good amp and good guitar pairing. But sometimes it seems to me that a guitar and amp just go together. Then with the right pedals you can add more.

I am pretty new to pedals, but some have it, and some don't. I have an MXR carbon copy. I find it to be fine little delay, and I am learning about how to use a delay. Right now I am working on clean boost and OD...I think my next pedal might be, heck I don't know. This is one thing I really don't like about living in the sticks, I pretty much gotta commit to a pedal (or anything) off youtube demo's...

j

[gitman001]

hey Dave,

I too love the Phase 90, i don't think i could live without it! I usually am anti-chorus, but recently the local shop got in the analog chorus in and they told me to give it a whirl.... I was thoroughly impressed, it had a really cool unique sound to it, unlike any other chorus i had tried before.

I am also a big pedal guy, the dr z i play has only 1 channel - then just 3 knobs, volume, bass, and treble. I use 3 Exotic Effects pedals - the AC, RC and BB to get varied levels of gain. IMO they are some of the best pedals out there.

I am not much of a history buff, and i must say that my earliest G&L is a mid 90's model. I am just glad that they are continuing to provide us with outstanding guitars year after year.

Scott

[RampageFan]

Thanks for all the replies. I forgot to mention I also have an MXR Carbon Copy in my pedal chain. It is a very versatile pedal. I enjoy the slapback setting.

Louis: After I bought the MXR pedals I saw your thread and the video you posted. They look like good pedals. So far I have been happy with the MXR pedals.

Sprinter: I was tempted to go with that Overdrive pedal. I may try it one day. Would that happen to be a Rampage Red Invader to go with your red Rampage? Did you see the Red Superhawk on Ebay recently? I thought about you and wondered if you bid on it.

Tom: Either fat free bologna is really good or I have just gotten used to it and I’ve forgotten what real bologna tastes like on real bread with real cheese! And thanks for the advice on the Opto Stomp. A compressor is on my list.

Darwin: I’m like you on Guitar history. I’m also interested in the history of Charvel/Jackson. They started out as a great small company, but got too big in my opinion and the quality control suffered as a result.

Sickbutnottired: I agree with you on the carbon copy. It is a good pedal. I can’t explain why the one guitar sounds so good with the ’78 distortion. Amazing to me how different the guitars sound with the same settings. And like you, I rely on the internet and get my info from the videos people upload.

Scott: I had no clue how much the phase 90 is used. Everything from ZZ Tops subtle phase settings to Eddie Van Halen’s brown sound. Very versatile pedal. I like the tone settings found on the chorus. I can get a very warm sound from it.

Dave

[zapcosongs]

I am so very sorry that I haven't had more time to participate this week. My elderly parents are a wreck, the kids are out of control, my wife is a CPA and it is tax season, and my friend's beloved Mom just died and we've been helping and feeding the family and their mourners.

I'm not a big pedal guy, but I really regret selling my original Ibanez AD-80 delay. I even had the rare ac adapter.

Wish I had more time to play these days. Fantastic week. You rock! - ed

[KenC]

I keep falling in and out of love with pedals. I probably like the thought of them more than I actually use them. I have several older DOD and MXR pedals, and still think they are a tremendous value and give some great sounds. The one that I've been disappointed with is the MXR Blue Box. I usually like quirky pedals, but I just can't find good sounds with this. I might like it more on bass though.

Lately I have shifted over to Moogerfoogers. They're expensive if you buy them new, but good deals on used MFs are out there. Aside from the build quality (by hand in North Carolina), the versatility is amazing. Most of them are two components in one case (envelope plus filter, LFO plus filter, LFO plus delay, etc), so they do much more than what the name implies. My next one will be a ring modulator. I probably won't use the modulation very much, but the LFO on its own produces an amazing tremolo.

Other than adjusting the input gain for different guitars, I find all of my pedals respond to any of my G&Ls. Amps are a slightly different story. Last year I was using a JC-120 Jazz Chorus as my main amp. Any of my small MFDs (ASAT Classic, Skyhawk or S-500) sounded beautiful through it, as did the Schallers in my Superhawk. A good compressor made them all sound even better. Large MFDs sounded terrible through it, though, IMO. They were just too sharp to do anything with. The large MFDs sound better than any of the others through my Blues Junior, though.

I love the history of G&L and the guitars and basses. I've been thoroughly impressed with some recent G&Ls I've played, but my preference is the old ones. The latest guitar in my collection is a '98 ASAT Classic. The others range in age from a pre-production F-100 to an '88 ASAT. I become very partial to maple bodies with ebony boards.

Ken

[Sprinter 92]

Sprinter: I was tempted to go with that Overdrive pedal. I may try it one day. Would that happen to be a Rampage Red Invader to go with your red Rampage? Did you see the Red Superhawk on Ebay recently? I thought about you and wondered if you bid on it.

Yep, it's Rampage Red to match my red Rampage. I bid on that Superhawk, but I didn't win it.


Sprinter 92

[louis cyfer]

officer, in the second video i posted in the other thread, it is actually a classic distortion and a carbon copy through a twin.

[sickbutnottired]

I am so very sorry that I haven't had more time to participate this week. My elderly parents are a wreck, the kids are out of control, my wife is a CPA and it is tax season, and my friend's beloved Mom just died and we've been helping and feeding the family and their mourners.

I'm not a big pedal guy, but I really regret selling my original Ibanez AD-80 delay. I even had the rare ac adapter.

Wish I had more time to play these days. Fantastic week. You rock! - ed

Wow. I thought I had a lot going on. Crazy work, sick kid, wife on call, working around the clock. Hang in there, buddy!

[Elwood]

I set my brother up with a little tube pre/SS Marshall combo with an upgraded speaker,
I wanted to give him a big meaty sound with a small easy to plug and play setup.
That amp with my 70's Distortion + and an old Phase 45 really gets you there .

I just unwrapped my NEW G&L Double Barrel Vari-Boost , I'll play with it a few days a let you all know
if I find some magical combinations. I often play with the crybaby close to wide open and
EQ my set-up a little dark to keep the wallpaper from peeling, This might be the trick to help bring
the balance back when I bypass the wah...I'll keep you posted.

[RampageFan]

I am so very sorry that I haven't had more time to participate this week. My elderly parents are a wreck, the kids are out of control, my wife is a CPA and it is tax season, and my friend's beloved Mom just died and we've been helping and feeding the family and their mourners.

I'm not a big pedal guy, but I really regret selling my original Ibanez AD-80 delay. I even had the rare ac adapter.

Wish I had more time to play these days. Fantastic week. You rock! - ed

Ed, sorry to hear this. I hope things start improving soon.

Dave

[zapcosongs]

Thanks guys! - ed